Escape from Colditz – Rules Clarifications

At the start of the game, deal one Opportunity card to each Escape Officer and one Security card to the Security Officer.

If playing with six players, each Escape Officer has only four POWs. To compensate, an Escape Officer draws one face-down card from the separate pile of "Escape Kit (part)" cards each time one of their POWs escapes. Before the game begins, these "Escape Kit (part)" cards should be separated from the Opportunity deck and held unseen by the Security Officer.

"Outside the Castle" means beyond the furthest wall or gate and beyond the barbed wire. This boundary may be referred to as the castle perimeter. POWs who are beyond the walls but not yet beyond the barbed wire, and not in a safe space, are subject to the Appel rules, though they may choose to ignore them as indicated on the Appel card.

The inner courtyard and outer courtyard are illustrated on page 3 of the rulebook. The outer courtyard is any area within the castle perimeter that is not coloured grey and is not a room accessible from the inner courtyard without equipment.

The black-rimmed spaces on the board are Walkways. Guards may not end their movement on a Walkway space. There is no such restriction on POWs, who may freely end their movement on Walkway spaces.

When rolling for movement, a double entitles the Escape Officer to a re-roll, up to a maximum of three rolls. If any roll totals 1-5, the player may draw one card, and no more than one card may be drawn per turn.

Each time an Escape Officer rolls doubles on their movement roll, they may move one POW of their choosing out of Solitary. Up to three POWs may be released from Solitary by this method in a single turn. The released POW should be placed as close as possible to the space marked with arrows; if that space is occupied, an adjacent space must be chosen. Releasing a POW from Solitary costs one movement point, regardless of how far that space is from the arrow.

The rulebook states: "If you roll doubles on any dice roll, be it for movement or due to a card, you may roll again adding the extra dice to your total. You may never roll more than two extra times due to rolling doubles." This applies to every dice roll in the game, including those triggered by cards, such as the Security Officer's dice roll during a General Search, the rolls made when playing the Staff Car card, and the roll made when playing the Shoot to Kill card. In each case, rolling doubles entitles the player to a further roll, up to a maximum of two extra rolls in total. Note that the Shoot to Kill card instructs the player to double the final total score to determine range; any re-rolls from doubles are added to the running total first, and only then is the combined total doubled.

The Security Officer's Appel card must be played at the very start of their turn, before any dice are rolled, and therefore cannot be played on the same turn it is drawn. This is the only card to which this timing rule applies. The rules on doubles also apply to the Security Officer's dice roll during Appel.

If any Escape Officer chooses to ignore the Appel with one or more POWs, the Security Officer may choose to make a general search. By doing so, they forfeit their normal movement for that turn. Instead, the Security Officer rolls the dice as usual but does not move any Guards. Any POW reachable by any Guard within the total dice range, counting spaces along valid movement paths, is arrested, goes directly to Solitary, and must discard one equipment card if their Escape Officer still holds any. However, the Appel exclusions still apply during a general search, so POWs in tunnels, safe areas, Solitary, and outside the castle are not affected by the card. All Guards remain in place, and the Security Officer's turn then ends. If the Security Officer does not call a general search, they proceed with a normal movement roll after the Appel.

There is an exception to the rule that POWs in the outer courtyard are liable to arrest. If an Escape Officer holds no equipment, and uses that POW's movement only along the shortest valid route from the outer Solitary Confinement cells towards the inner courtyard, without deviation, then that POW is exempt from arrest. Any other movement disqualifies the POW from this exemption.

The Security Officer's "Shoot to Kill" card may only be used against a POW who is outside the castle. It may not be used against a POW in the inner courtyard or the outer courtyard. To use it, the Security Officer nominates a POW outside the castle, then rolls the dice, re-rolling on doubles as per rule 8, and doubles the final accumulated total. If the nominated POW is within that range of any Guard, counting spaces along valid movement paths, the POW is removed from the game entirely and the Guard is sent to the Commander's office. If the POW is out of range, the card is spent with no effect.

An Escape Officer may force an arrest by moving a POW into a space occupied by a Guard. The same arrest rules apply as for any other arrest.

Equipment cards may be traded freely between Escape Officers at any time, except during the Security Officer's turn.

An Escape Officer may not hold two complete Escape Kits at the same time.

Once deployed, an Escape Equipment card may benefit any number of POWs of a team during the turn in which it is used, provided that the dice total and free spaces allow their movement and the rules about passing over another pawn are observed.

If two POWs of the same nationality reach any target on the same turn, only one complete Escape Kit — comprising Clothes, Food, Documents, and Compass — is required for both POWs.

When two POWs obtain an item such as a rope, and are sent to the Appel area as part of making it, they may continue moving during that turn if movement still remains.

The "Advance Warning" card allows movement only to a blue Safe Area, not merely to any area normally exempt from arrest. If the necessary equipment is spent, a POW may move to any blue Safe Area on the board.

Any time a POW uses a rope or wire cutters, they must place an Escape Attempt marker between the two relevant spaces. This marker allows access through the wire or down the drop for POWs of that nationality only, or for Guards, on that or any subsequent turn.

If all Escape Attempt markers of the required nationality are already in play, the Escape Officer may reuse one already on the board.

Escape Attempt markers are not placed on spaces containing pass or key symbols. These spaces may be entered by POWs only by playing the appropriate card. Unlike breaches in wire made with wire cutters or drops created with rope, an Escape Officer must play another pass or key card to allow additional POWs to pass through these spaces, as must an Escape Officer from a different team in a subsequent move. This rule applies in both directions, with the sole exception of a POW returning to the inner courtyard from Solitary in the outer courtyard, who need not show a pass.

Guards may not remain in a room after removing an Escape Attempt marker. They must leave immediately, and must then either move down the drop or go directly to the Commander's office, without spending further movement points. Guards may never move in the reverse direction through an Escape Attempt marker.

Escape Officers may send a POW back through a fence or back up a drop if they are rethinking their plans. This is only possible if the original Escape Attempt marker is still in place. The appropriate equipment card must be played again: wire cutters to reverse through a fence; one rope to reverse up a 30ft drop; or two ropes to reverse up a 60ft drop.

Once opened, a tunnel may be used by all Escape Officers. POWs must enter through the darker marked space in the inner courtyard and exit through the darker marked space in the outer courtyard.

Both POWs and Guards may move overground across tunnel spaces, even if there is a POW inside the tunnel on that space. Only POWs who have entered the tunnel via the tunnel entrance may end their turn on tunnel spaces. The tunnel entrance is the darker space in the room; the exit is the darker space in the outer courtyard.

Guards may arrest POWs in a tunnel only if the Security Officer has played a "Tunnel Discovered" card and nominated that particular tunnel. In that case, a Guard may move directly into a POW in the tunnel to make the arrest as though that tunnel space were any other space, or may enter the room containing the tunnel in order to do so. Because the arrest is made on entry, the Guard is not considered to end its movement in the tunnel.

Guards may be moved from the barracks to any guard post, or from any guard post to the Commander's office, at a cost of one movement point each.

Should a Guard, after pursuing a POW, find themselves in a part of the board from which it is impossible to return to a guard post, that pawn should be placed in the Commander's office at the end of the turn.

Once a POW escapes, any or all Escape Attempt markers of that POW's colour may be removed from the board at the Security Officer's discretion. If any Guards were pursuing that POW outside the castle and there are no other POWs in that area, those Guards are sent immediately to the Commander's office.

Only a single POW may escape using the Staff Car card, even though there are two entry points for the car.

The round marker is moved down one space at the end of the Security Officer's turn. When the round marker reaches the eagle, the Escape Officers have one final turn in which to attempt escape.

If an Escape Officer reaches a target with their second POW, the game does not end immediately. Any Escape Officers who have not yet taken their turn in the current round are allowed the opportunity to reach a target with two POWs of their own and share the victory.